Two episodes for the price of one! In our first ever positive emergency podcast, we hash out all of the many emotions we went through during the Islanders’ 4-3 overtime win over the Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada starring Matthew Schaefer. For two periods, it looked like the game and the season might […]
Two episodes for the price of one!
In our first ever positive emergency podcast, we hash out all of the many emotions we went through during the Islanders’ 4-3 overtime win over the Maple Leafs on Hockey Night in Canada starring Matthew Schaefer.
For two periods, it looked like the game and the season might be over. The Islanders were down 2-1, Auston Matthews had scored twice to become the Leafs’ all time leading goal scorer, and UBS Arena was quiet as the home team gave fans very little to cheer about. But after a crosscheck from noted scumbag Max Domi, the 18-year-old Schaefer decided he had seen enough. He scored an incredible goal to tie the game, then after two more goals that sent the game to overtime, blew the roof off the place by scoring an insane game-winner off an equally insane pass from Mathew Barzal.
While the feeling afterward was beyond euphoric, there were a lot more emotions before and after. Why does an 18-year-old need to put this team on his back? Why do the Islanders continue to allow other teams to score record-setting goals at their arena? How good will Schaefer be as he matures? How did this play to the Hockey Night audience back in Toronto? And who is Cole McWard? We try to address all of these and more in the moment before sleep and the rest of the weekend kicks in.
We’ll be back at our regular time for an episode to release on Monday morning as always. But this game deserved its own podcast and it might not be the last time Schaefer spurs us to do this.
Mike and Dan run down a surprisingly busy week for the Islanders – feel bad wins, rock bottom losses and one huge OT victory – while taking stock of the first half of their season.
We’ve gone over the Saturday night game against the Maple Leafs in depth on our special emergency podcast, so now we look back at a lucky shootout win over Chicago and a disastrous New Year’s Day home game against Utah. The Islanders didn’t play well in either, but the game they tried to lose yielded two points and the other was another bad game at the worst time and left an entire arena and fanbase perplexed and angry. Lost points against beatable teams might end up haunting them later, as the entire Eastern Conference continues to be a dog fight.
In the second half, we look ahead to a non-negotiable home game against a division rival that proceeds another long road trip, this time through some places the Islanders have rarely, if ever, won in. Getting two points against New Jersey is key to getting off on the right foot before heading to Nashville (on Dan’s birthday) and St. Paul, MN and hoping to stay above water. We also take a look back at as good a first half as the Islanders have had in many years. But other teams are right behind them, and a four game losing streak would feel like the end of the world. So some of the players that have been on ice will need to step up in the face of injuries and mounting pressure.
REFERENCES
- I forgot to post the article for the emergency podcast, Episode 354, on Sunday. We recorded late and I meant to do it in the morning. This is why we don’t do too many Saturday night podcasts. Apologies.
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